Ambondro mahabo is a mammal from the middle Jurassic (about 167 million
years ago) of Madagascar. The only species of the genus Ambondro, it is
known from a fragmentary lower jaw with three teeth (pictured),
interpreted as the last premolar and the first two molars. The premolar
consists of a central cusp with one or two smaller cusps and a cingulum
(shelf) on the inner, or lingual, side of the tooth. The molars have a
similar cingulum, three cusps at the front, and a talonid with a main
cusp, a smaller cusp, and a crest at the back. Features of the talonid
suggest that Ambondro had tribosphenic molars, the basic arrangement of
molar features also present in marsupial and placental mammals. It is
the oldest known mammal with putatively tribosphenic teeth; at the time
of its discovery it antedated the second oldest example by about
25 million years.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambondro_mahabo>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1493:
Ottoman wars in Europe: At the Battle of Krbava Field, a large
Croatian army intercepted an Ottoman force returning to the Sanjak of
Bosnia, but was defeated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Krbava_Field>
1892:
At the Lick Observatory, California, Edward Emerson Barnard
discovered Amalthea, the third moon of Jupiter and the last natural
satellite discovered by direct visual observation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalthea_%28moon%29>
1969:
Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 collided in mid-air with a Piper
PA-28 Cherokee flown by a student pilot near Fairland, Indiana,
destroying both planes and killing all 83 occupants of both aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Airlines_Flight_853>
2001:
Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, was
assassinated in Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Shah_Massoud>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
desideratum:
Something that is wished for, or considered desirable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/desideratum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In the mental disturbance and effort of writing, what sustains
you is the certainty that on every page there is something left unsaid.
--Cesare Pavese
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cesare_Pavese>
Show replies by date